Full Quill Ostrich Roper

[TroyWest]

Ben, J.W., and Johnny,

Thank you guys for your comments. I really appreciate it. I saw a full ostrich covered saddle about 20 yrs. ago at the world show in Oklahoma City. It was a sort of sea green color and frankly, I thought it was one of the ugliest saddles I've ever seen, so I was a little leery when this guy wanted one. This color is cognac, which is what he requested. It looks better than green, but you have to like ostrich. I am not an ostrich fan but I sure would build another one. Its just like lining a saddle except on top and of course very profitable without spending a huge amount of time building the saddle.

Thanks again for your comments,

Troy

[Ian]

Troy, I don't see any edge stitching. What cement did you use to adhere the skin? Is it adhered to the flesh side of the leather - leaving the underside smooth? Does cement alone hold up well, or is a saddle like that only used on rare occasions?

[Go2Tex]

Well Troy, if I ever get one of "those" clients, I know who to call for advice on the silver work! Thanks for sharing.

[ClayB]

Thanks for sharing these pictures Troy. I am not a big fan of ostrich, but I am a big fan of different, so this is really interesting. I was wondering how you did it too, if you could build a saddle out of ostrich (which I doubted) or if you had to line the leather with the ostrich. You did a really nice job of it. The silver work is really amazing!!!

Now what do we have to do the get you to post pictures of the saddle you made for the president?

[gtwister09]

Now what do we have to do the get you to post pictures of the saddle you made for the president?

Clay,

Not Troy but here's the web link...

President's Saddle

Regards,

Ben

[TroyWest]

Troy, I don't see any edge stitching. What cement did you use to adhere the skin? Is it adhered to the flesh side of the leather - leaving the underside smooth? Does cement alone hold up well, or is a saddle like that only used on rare occasions?

Ian,

It loses some detail when you make the photo computer compatible, but the edges are stitched everywhere. If you look at the closeup of the concho you'll see the stitching around the top of the seat jockey.

I used all-purpose cement. The biggest challenge, if you've ever worked with ostrich, is that it has a pretty spongy backside. I couldn't groove the top of the ostrich for stitch grooves but I did want my stitches to be countersunk. I grooved the skirting pretty deep where you normally would, then skived the outer edges of the ostrich to eliminate as much of the sponginess as possible.

Then glued it down with two coats of glue and ran a creaser on top of the ostrich to push it down in the stitch groove to see where to sew, but every edge is sewn. Apparently he rides it quite a bit. It looked fine but it looked well ridden.

He sent it to me a year ago to clean it. He had ridden with a small bottle of vaseline in his back pocket and some had squirted onto the seat. Go figure.

[TroyWest]

Thank you for your comments Clay and Go2Tex. There is certainly room for improvement in my silverwork and when I look at the Pres. saddle I see things I would do differently now than I did then in the silver and in the saddle. There is no end to learning and striving for excellence. The fun of our work is getting to be creative in design and then in execution and then you back off and look at it and critique it. There are always areas to improve but it's still a lot of fun to me.

Just so you know I no longer work at West Bros., but I built a shop at my home about 5 yrs. ago. I live a mile down a dirt road and mostly build saddles, along with a few silver buckles. My brothers shop is on a highway where he has a lot of walk-in traffic and does a ton of repairs as well as a few saddles.

[Bob]

Troy, that's very nice workmanship.

[TroyWest]

Hello Bob,

Haven't seen you post in a while. Thanks for the kind word.

Troy

[Grunt]

Troy,

THanks for posting those pics. Your work is stunnig and usual.